“It’s just like you to add another dead, useless language to your repertoire.” Mum placed her hand over mine. Her fingers trembled a little. I looked down at her face, expecting to see tears streaking her cheeks. Instead, she was smiling. A genuine smile that took ten years off her face. I rocked back on my heels, surprised. I hadn’t seen that smile in so many years. “How many is that now?”
“Fifteen. I don’t count my Spanish because it’s pretty shaky.”
“Your Dad will be proud.” Her grin widened. But then, as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished, leaving behind the drawn, ghost of a woman my mother had become. “Oh, Corbin,when are you going to go to university and put that brain of yours to use?”
“I don’t need a degree to put my brain to use. There’s plenty for me to do in…” I trailed off. I’d been about to mention the library and Briarwood, and that would’ve been bad.
The front door banged. Mum leapt away from me, her head jerking toward the door.
“Mummy, today we learned about twerking!” Tessa cried, her footsteps clattering down the hall. My heart stuttered.
My sister stopped short when she saw me in the kitchen. “Corby!” She jumped into my arms. I held her tight against me, breathing in that milky scent of her. She’d got bigger and heavier since I’d last seen her, and some of the baby fat gone from her face. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s a surprise,” I grunted, staggering backwards as I struggled to hold her squirming body. Bianca came running in and threw her arms around my legs. My chest ached as emotions I’d forced myself not to acknowledge forcing themselves to the surface.It’s been too long to go without seeing the girls.
“It’s the best surprise. I wrote a story in school today about a dinosaur. Did you know people discovered dinosaurs in England? We’re going to a museum next week to look at their bones. Can you come to the museum with us? It’ll be way more fun with you.”
“Tessa,” Mum warned.
“What? Oh, sorry, Mum. I didn’t mean that you’re boring. But we haven’t seen Corby in aaaaages. Will you take us to the dinosaurs?”
“Corbin’s going back to Crookshollow tonight.” A hint of desperation clutched to Mum’s voice.
“I am, sadly.” I set Tessa down and picked up Bianca, spinning her around until her legs flared out and she brokedown into giggles. “I’ll take you to see the dinosaurs another time.”
I meant every word, but I knew it would never happen. The knowledge squirmed in my gut.
You’re a horrible big brother.
“But can you stay for tea? We’re having toad-in-the-hole.” Tessa jumped up and down. “I’m going to make the batter!”
Behind Tessa’s head, Mum was shaking her head. But no way in hell was I going to say no to my sister, so I pretended I hadn’t seen.
“I’d love to,” I hugged Tessa again.
The girls dragged me off to their room to show me their school stuff and their doll collections. As I sat on the bed and learned all about the love lives of their Barbies and Sindys and Bratz, it occurred to me that Rowan hadn’t yet come back from the bathroom.
Dread stabbed at my gut. There were too many secrets in this house for Rowan to be wandering around unchecked.What’s he doing?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ROWAN
They’ve got to keep their magical stuff around here somewhere.
In one of the rare moments when he spoke about his family (usually after one-too-many glasses of Arthur’s mead) Corbin told me that after Keegan died, his parents had given up magic. They burned their family grimoire and all their ritual implements on a big bonfire and left Briarwood behind them.
But I didn’t believe it.
Magic was in our blood. It pulsed in my veins – a hum that rose from deep in the earth and thrummed through my body. You couldn’t just get rid of it. And Corbin’s parents knew the dangers of the fae. Even if they’d renounced their magical ways, no way would they take a chance that the fae might come after their daughters. Corbin’s protective air magic simmered in their veins – they would safeguard their family.
That grimoire was around here somewhere. And maybe, just maybe, it would have a record of what happened twenty-one years ago – something that could help us.
I pulled one door open, revealing a linen closet. Feeling around behind the towels revealed no hidden doors orlockboxes. I shut the closet as quietly as possible and crept up the stairs.
On the landing I could hear Corbin laughing with his sisters in one of the bedrooms. The mirth in his voice tore at my heart.
I crept past the girls’ room and pushed open another door, finding a darkened room with drawn curtains. I slipped inside and shut the door after me.
